


Sometimes, They Win

by AnonymousSong



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Anti Form, F/M, Gen, Heartless - Freeform, Sokai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 21:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12943905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonymousSong/pseuds/AnonymousSong
Summary: While on a mission together, Kairi faints from her injuries. What she finds when she wakes up is not what she expected.





	Sometimes, They Win

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very belated birthday gift to Charlie ([ChaChaCharlieCo](chachacharlieco.tumblr.com)) who drew [this lovely comic](https://chachacharlieco.tumblr.com/post/167404034244/if-kh3-has-a-mission-where-only-sora-and-kairi-get)! 
> 
> Thank you for your art, my dude, and for the inspiration your art gives :)

"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win."  
\- _Stephen King_

\---

"Watch out! More are coming!" Sora shouted.

Kairi slashed through two Shadows and ducked a blast of fire from a Red Nocturne. She rounded on it and destroyed it with a direct shot of ice. Panting, she looked around to see two Large Bodys and several Soldiers appear. 

Sora cast a powerful magnet spell and drew most of the Soldiers and one of the Large Body Heartless towards him. Kairi ran at the remaining Soldiers and turned in a circle to cut through them.

Her attack was suddenly bounced back at her as the Large Body charged her. Kairi scrambled out of the way and managed to dodge most of its charge but still got knocked off her feet. She hit the ground harshly and managed to block a Soldier's kick.

"Reflect!" she cried. It stopped several attacks as she got to her feet. She wouldn't be able to cast another spell like that, as she could feel herself tiring.

Kairi tried to run behind the Large Body but it seemed determined to keep her in its sights. She stopped to destroy a Soldier that leapt at her and swung around to slash through another that had tried to attack her from behind. 

Just as she faced forward again, Kairi saw the Large Body swing its fist right at her. It was too quick, despite its size, and Kairi took the full force of the hit. She let out a short, sharp yell of pain as she flew several feet backwards. She felt herself hit a wall and then everything went dark.

\--

Kairi slowly fought to regain consciousness. Her head was throbbing and her whole body felt sore. She let out a groan and started to move but the pain in her back made her stop.

There was silence around her and she opened her eyes but found that she was staring at the wall she had crashed into. Were there still Heartless around? Was Sora okay? She closed her eyes and readied herself to try to move again.

Something nudged her shoulder.

Kairi struggled to push herself up to a sitting position, holding her head and squinting as her eyes focused. She turned to see what had nudged her.

Kairi froze. Her pain was forgotten as an icy shot of terror raced through her at the creature before her.

It was covered in Darkness, which was rising off its body like dense mist, crouched on all fours. It had large, glowing yellow eyes, like the Shadows, staring directly at her. Its teeth were pointed and it was... smiling?

Before Kairi could summon her Keyblade, the creature made a strange noise like a grunt and moved backwards. It rested, squatting with one hand on the ground, its head tilted slightly to the side. The large luminescent eyes still stared at her.

Kairi was tense, waiting for an attack, but with the creature having moved away, her panic ebbed somewhat. Her shoulders ached and she let herself relax a little more to ease some of the pain. 

Keeping her eye on the creature - most likely a Heartless though she'd never seen one like it - Kairi slowly unclipped the pouch clipped to her side and extracted a potion. She watched the creature as she uncorked the bottle and drank some of the contents.

The pain in her back and shoulders disappeared. She watched the cuts on her arms and legs seal themselves and the throbbing in her head faded. The bottle was half empty when she replaced the cork and returned the potion to her pouch. 

At least, if the creature attacked her, she'd be at full strength to fight it.

There was certainly something odd about it. While she had watched it, the creature had made small noises, bouncing slightly in place. It was still crouched as before, hardly blinking. 

While Kairi had seen Heartless that were vaguely humanoid in shape, this one was the closest she'd come across. It even seemed to have hair, though the Darkness covering it was dense enough to make details hard to pick out.

There was something altogether... familiar about the creature. Once that thought struck her, it was a split second later that she realized why.

"S- _Sora_?" Kairi asked, eyes wide.

The creature - Sora - bounced in place, still smiling widely at her. He made a squawking sound like a cheer and turned in a quick circle.

Kairi simply stared. She'd never heard Sora mention anything like this happening before. What had caused it? Was it permanent?

"Sora?" she asked hesitantly. "Is that really you?"

She looked around, as if to see if Sora was actually hiding somewhere out of sight, but she knew it was him before her. 

Sora gave another cry before he turned away from her. He raced off, still crouched on all fours.

"Sora! Wait!" Kairi called after him. She climbed quickly to her feet and ran after Sora, following him further down the street. 

Sora stopped at a corner to look back at her. When Kairi had nearly caught up, he took off once again. He looked back over his shoulder regularly to be sure that she still followed him.

The buildings around them seemed to be abandoned, most likely due to the residents evacuating because of the Heartless. Sora's strange chirps seemed to echo off the empty buildings. He stopped often so that she could catch up but stayed out of reach.

Down an alley, Kairi slowed to climb over broken barrels, carefully stepping over the splintered wood and debris. There were deep scratch marks in the ground and dark spots where fire had burned.

Kairi stopped at a particularly harsh burn on a wall. It looked like something had blocked part of the blow and she had a quiet suspicion it had been a person. 

They had been sent to find the heart of the world and to seal it so that the Heartless wouldn't be able to cast another world into Darkness. But Kairi knew that even when the heart was sealed, the Heartless would still linger, causing more damage and hurting more people. Her hand tightened into a fist, a wave of protectiveness for the world and anger at the Heartless flooding over her.

A dark face dropped down in front of her.

Kairi gave a quick shriek of surprise, moving backwards quickly. Her Keyblade was out in an instant but she lowered it.

Sora was hanging upside down from the wall. Looking up, Kairi saw that he was holding onto the wall with his foot. His arms dangled loosely and he tilted his head left and right, gazing at her. Sora gave another chirp, though it almost seemed to have an inquiring edge to it.

Though she tried to keep herself from smiling, Kairi couldn't help but let a smile grow. Sora echoed the look, giving her another toothy grin. Even when covered in Darkness, Sora was still... _Sora_.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked him. Sora dropped from his spot, landing at a crouch, and hurried along down the alleyway. Kairi quickly followed.

They entered a large courtyard that looked as if it had been abandoned in a hurry. There were more broken barrels and smashed market stalls, potted plants lay overturned. Various items were scattered on the ground, as if people had dropped whatever they had been holding before they had turned and run away.

Halfway across the courtyard, Sora abruptly stopped. He sat back on his feet, alert for something. His head turned one way, then the other.

"What is it?" Kairi asked. She tried to sense what Sora had felt, her Keyblade gripped tightly in both hands. There didn't seem to be anything...

Kairi felt the familiar rush of Darkness that meant-

"Heartless!" she cried as figures appeared around them.

Sora dropped to all fours again and a deep growling sound was coming from him. Kairi watched as the Darkness around him seemed to flow and gather densely at his hands. At the tips of his fingers, the Darkness formed into claws.

A dozen Soldiers and Shadows crept closer to them as two Crimson Jazz floated above them. Kairi watched a Morning Star appear behind the pack, the sunlight gleaming on its large spikes.

"Be careful!" Kairi warned but Sora released a loud, harsh cry and ran at the approaching Shadows and Soldiers.

He slammed into several of them, knocking them back. Sora rolled before quickly getting back to his hands and feet and charging again. He slashed his hands, striking the Heartless around him with the claws he had grown.

Sora began to circle the Heartless incredibly fast, still slashing at them. The momentum of his attacks carried several Heartless into the air where he grabbed them and threw them back down to the ground.

Kairi forced herself to focus on the enemies before her, though her eyes were drawn to Sora using Darkness to destroy the Heartless.

A Crimson Jazz loomed above Kairi. It summoned a dozen fireballs that chased her down. Kairi dodged the fire as well as she could, but it was a clever spell that sensed her movements. She had to quickly halt to avoid slamming into a fireball and turn to knock a Soldier away. 

Three larger fireballs appeared around Kairi, though they didn't approach her. They surrounded her and moved when she did but kept a short distance away. Kairi stopped and grew tense, waiting. The Crimson Jazz flew closer and she could hear the strange growls coming from Sora as he fought.

The fireballs rushed at her. Kairi jumped as they enclosed on her and swung her Keyblade down. 

"Blizzard!" she shouted just as the fireballs collided. They exploded, but the blast of ice that she had shot protected her from the worse of the damage. The momentum of the explosion carried her up to the Crimson Jazz.

As gravity began to pull her back to the ground, Kairi swung her Keyblade up, then back down through the Crimson Jazz. She landed solidly on her feet as the Heartless disappeared, its freed heart gently floating away.

Kairi watched Sora leap into the air and grab the other Crimson Jazz. She could feel a wave of power roll off of him as he threw the Heartless downward, slamming it into the ground. The pavement shattered and the Crimson Jazz disappeared. 

A large shape blew past Kairi. She barely had a moment to call out a warning as the Morning Star spun towards Sora. 

The Morning Star hit Sora with a large, spiked arm just as he landed. Sora flew nearly twenty feet in the air before slamming into a wall. Cracks formed around him from the force of the blow.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted, horrified. She ran towards him, sure that the blow had at least knocked him unconscious, if not worse.

Sora fell forward, leaving behind an impact dent in the wall. He landed on his feet with only a slight wobble. He shook his head a few times before looking at the Morning Star, growling. 

Kairi stared at the red stains left on the wall. As Sora ran at the Morning Star, red droplets appeared on the ground in his wake.

Despite his injuries, Sora leapt into the air and raised his arms above his head. Darkness started to gather, growing denser and larger until it formed a ball that was nearly twice his height.

As his leap took him towards the Morning Star, Sora lowered the ball of Darkness, aiming directly for its massive spiked body. There was a surge of force that swept the courtyard as Sora rammed it into the Heartless. The ball of Darkness swirled under his hands. Kairi could see that it was shattering the spikes on the Morning Star's body. Tendrils of Darkness were coming out of the ball, attacking the large spiked arms.

Seconds after the ball of Darkness has collided with it, the Morning Star disappeared, defeated. The Darkness faded and Sora landed on the ground, letting out a triumphant call.

Kairi hadn't moved, still standing where Sora had hit the wall. Her eyes flickered from Sora, who was circling the courtyard, possibly looking for more Heartless to fight, and the blood painted on the wall and ground.

"Sora?" Kairi called out. Sora's large yellow eyes immediately turned to her and he ran over. He was grinning again with his pointed teeth all showing.

It was hard to tell, as he was covered in dense, black Darkness, but Kairi could see that the back of Sora's neck and shoulders looked shiny and damp. More droplets of blood dotted the ground.

"Come here, Sora," Kairi urged, fishing the half empty Potion bottle from her pouch. "You need this, come over here."

But Sora made his strange chirping noise and began to move away. He motioned for Kairi to follow him.

"No, Sora! Come back!" Kairi ran after him but Sora started running as well, as he had done before. He checked over his shoulder to be sure she was following.

Kairi stashed the Potion back into her pouch. She had to navigate around more debris to keep up with Sora. The streets disappeared and turned to dirt roads as Sora led her away from the buildings and into the line of trees that surrounded the town. Kairi felt unease at entering the forest but trusted Sora, despite the Darkness that covered him.

They delved deeper into the forest. There was a path to follow but it disappeared after a while, leaving just the carpet of grass and leaves. Sora didn't hesitate, continuing on. Kairi noticed small animals amongst the trees but they darted away as Sora ran past them.

The sun shone with its midday light above them, cutting through the gaps in the leaves. Kairi could see that the trees around them were growing taller and thicker, suggesting that they were working their way into older parts of the forest.

Ahead of her, Sora finally stopped. He had entered a small circled clearing that held an enormous tree in the center. Its roots were thick and twisted where they were visible. Its branches stretched over the top of the clearing, tangled into the branches of the nearby trees.

Sora gave one of his strange cheering cries, grinning at her again. He motioned her towards the tree. Kairi stepped past him and approached it, unsure. Her Keyblade appeared in her hand.

A spot on the trunk of the tree began to glow.

"This is..." Kairi could feel a large source of energy and power, Light and Darkness flowing from a center. Her Keyblade glowed faintly in her hand for a moment and she realized where they were.

"This is the heart of the world!" Kairi exclaimed. "Sora, you did it, you got us here, you-"

Kairi turned as a loud _THUD_ came from behind her. Sora lay on the ground, looking to have collapsed. Kairi watched as the Darkness around him seemed to shift. It expanded outwards for a brief moment and then rushed into him, as if absorbed.

Sora returned to himself with a low groan. His eyes were closed and there was blood smeared on his neck. 

"Sora!" Kairi raced to him, relieved to see him revert to himself but horrified at the clear evidence of harsh injuries. She knelt beside him and lifted her Keyblade in the air, channelling as much energy as she could into her spell. "Curaga!"

Light engulfed Sora, shining almost unbearably bright for several moments before dimming. He was still faintly glowing as Kairi gingerly cradled his head. His hair was clumped and sticky with drying blood. Kairi ran her fingers over his scalp, which was still slick, but she didn't feel any breaks or open wounds. She did, however, feel the edges of newly made scars.

She shuddered. Even the strongest Cure spell left scars if the wounds had been bad enough. Kairi was glad at least that Sora hadn't stayed in that other form for longer.

She brushed the sweaty fringe from his forehead and brought her hand down to his neck. His heartbeat was fast, pounding heavily against her fingertips.

"Sora?" Kairi gave him a gentle shake. "Sora, wake up, please."

Sora groaned and Kairi felt a wave of relief as his eyes faintly opened, narrowed and unfocused.

"Kairi?" he asked, uncertainly. He raised a hand to his temple, peering up at her. "What happened?"

"It's okay now," she replied, dodging the question. "How do you feel?"

"Sore," Sora admitted. Even with the Curaga spell, his expression made it clear that he was still in some pain. He started to move and Kairi helped to push him up to a sitting position. She felt his back as she did, feeling to make sure all his wounds had healed.

Sora turned his head one way and then the other, his neck letting out loud cracks as he popped the joints. Kairi brushed his fringe back again, quietly happy to see that his eyes were back to their normal blue color.

"Are you hurt?" Sora suddenly asked, catching her wrist. Kairi stared at her own hand - she hasn't noticed the blood smeared across her palms and fingertips.

"No, no, this... this isn't mine," she said.

Sora's eyebrows came together. He released Kairi's wrist to rub at the back of his head. When he pulled his hand away, blood stained his glove.

"What?" His eyes grew wide. Sora looked around, as if noticing where they were for the first time. He turned his eyes to Kairi. "What _happened_? And how'd we get here?"

"I'm not really sure," Kairi said, trying to keep her voice calm in the face of Sora's visible growing panic. "We were fighting the Heartless and then you. You _changed_. You were covered in Darkness and had claws and you were growling and-"

Sora's whole body turned rigid. His face went pale. In a horrified whisper, he asked, "It happened again?"

Before Kairi could answer, Sora covered his face with his hands and brought his knees up, curling in on himself. Kairi looked at him, surprised.

"This has happened before?" she asked. 

When Sora silently nodded, Kairi carefully shifted on her knees so that she was closer to him and put a hand on his arm. "What happened? What is it?"

Sora didn't move for several moments. Slowly, he uncovered his face to run one hand through his hair while he rested his forehead in the other. "Donald and Goofy said it happened a few times when we were looking for Riku last year. They called it... They called it ' _anti form_.' We figured that it happened whenever I tried to use a form when I was too tired."

"Do you think that's what happened this time?" Kairi asked.

"I remember that you were hurt and I." Sora stopped and Kairi could see his fist tighten in his hair, pulling. "I needed to be _stronger_."

Kairi gently extracted his hand and held it in both of her own. She turned his hand over to push at the stained palm of his glove. She slowly traced the tips of his fingers. The claws had disappeared.

"You protected me," she said quietly.

"What?" Sora asked, turning his head to stare at her.

"You protected me," Kairi repeated. "You destroyed all those Heartless and then the ones we ran into on the way here." She looked up to meet his eyes and smiled. "You wouldn't stop grinning at me and it was sweet, except your teeth were sharp and pointy."

Sora poked at the edges of his now flat teeth, seeming concerned yet interested.

Kairi let go of him and stood. Sora stared up at her, while his hand hovered where she had left it. There was a faint look of desperation in his eyes. Kairi offered her hand to him. "And you lead me here."

Sora took her hand and she pulled him to his feet. "Which is where?"

"It's the heart of the world, what we were looking for," she explained. "You were still in there. You're still _you_."

Kairi put a hand to his chest and could faintly feel the thud of his heartbeat. Some of the tension left him as he placed his hand over hers and softly smiled.

"Thank you, Kairi," Sora said gently. He opened his arms and enveloped her in a hug. Kairi's arms were pressed against his chest but she wiggled enough to free them so as to return the hug. 

She felt his head lower, his nose pressed against her shoulder. She could feel him shaking.

"It's okay," Kairi assured, resting her forehead against his neck, squeezing him tighter. "It's okay. You're here."


End file.
